Hurricane Anatomy

This image shows Hurricane Floyd approaching the Florida coast in September of 1999. The storm turned north and made landfall near Wilmington, NC before going on to rake almost the entire East Coast of North America before heading back out into the Atlantic Ocean. Details

Introduction

In this investigation, you'll look at a number of videos, animations, and images in order to gain a better understanding of how hurricanes work. You'll also learn a lot about how we know how they work. In the first part, you'll learn about some of the satellites that researchers use to study and make forecasts about hurricanes. Then you'll get a chance to look "under the hood" of a hurricane to see how these storms develop. Finally, you'll spend some time exploring differences between storms in the Northern Hemisphere and storms in the Southern Hemisphere.

Keeping Track of What You Learn

Throughout these labs, you will find two kinds of questions.

Checking In questions are intended to keep you engaged and focused on key concepts and to allow you to periodically check if the material is making sense. These questions are often accompanied by hints or answers to let you know if you are on the right track.

Stop and Think questions are intended to help your teacher assess your understanding of the key concepts and skills you should be learning from the lab activities and readings.

Your teacher will let you know which answers you should record and turn in.